Canada: Broadband households and interests on smart home services

According to a study conducted by research firm Parks Associates, 12% of broadband households in Canada have a smart home device such as a smart thermostat, smart door lock or video doorbell, compared to 26% in the US.

The study highlights that:

25% of broadband households in Canada have an active home security system, of which 70% have professional monitoring.

25% of professionally monitored households plan to switch providers over the next year

11% of security system owners acquired their system within the past 12 months, a decline from 17% two years ago.

18% of all broadband households have at least basic interactivity with their security system.

The study was conducted to understand the interests of broadband households in adopting smart home and security technologies and services.

Brad Russell, research director, Connected Homes, Parks Associates, said: “Canada’s security market is stable but with high attrition rates, which makes market expansion difficult, and the security providers, telcos, and cablecos don’t want to keep pushing their services to the top of the hill only to have subscribers switch or cancel just to save a few dollars.

“These companies are investing in smart home adjacencies that add value to traditional security offerings and help with subscriber retention. Innovative services in health and PERS will help secure customers.

“Voice control is increasingly popular, and consumer awareness of these devices increased by 50% from 1Q 2017 to 1Q 2018. Currently 7% of Canadian broadband households have a smart speaker with personal assistant.”